Jury deliberates in San Diego strangling trial

San Diego 
A jury in San Diego is considering the fate of a man accused of strangling a young mother and her infant son after she threatened to bring a paternity case against him.

Dennis Potts faces a life sentence if convicted of murder and conspiracy to obstruct justice in the July 2006 deaths of 22-year-old Tori Vienneau and 10-month-old Dean Springstube.

Prosecutors allege the 25-year-old Potts used a friend's DNA sample to falsify a mail-in paternity test aimed at determining whether he was the baby's father. They said Vienneau was killed the night she planned to request a court-ordered test from Potts.

The defense claimed there was no direct evidence linking Potts to the killings.